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In the end, none of that mattered. It couldn’t. Not when Karim had a blade against his back.
Desfan glared at the man behind Karim. “If you harm him, you will suffer the pain of a thousand deaths.”
“I do not fear pain,” he said evenly. The man was middle-aged, and his hard face could have been carved from stone. “Release the boy.”
In the strained silence between them, Liam’s hands fisted at his sides. He was as trapped as Desfan; Karim held a dagger to Akiva—a person Liam clearly cared about, though Desfan hadn’t known that was possible—and Desfan couldn’t move, because Karim was being threatened by this other Mortisian.
Desfan ground his teeth. “Karim. Release him.”
Karim didn’t so much at twitch. His eyes blazed. “If I let him go, Liam will grab you.”
“If you don’t let him go, you’re dead,” Desfan gritted out.
Karim’s stubborn jaw set.
Liam finally spoke, his voice tense. “We’re losing Sahvi, and that can’t happen. Kazim, release him.”
The man—Kazim—did not step back from Karim. “He will kill Akiva.”
“He won’t,” Liam said.
A bang echoed across the room. The double doors had been thrown open by Sahvi’s men. New cries rang out, and steel clashed as they encountered the perimeter guard.
Desfan relaxed, if only a little.
Liam twisted to face him. “I will return to prison willingly if you let Akiva and Kazim go.”
Akiva made a strangled sound.
Kazim growled. “Liam—”
The look Liam threw the man was hard. “You shouldn’t have come at all.”
“We were tracking Sahvi,” Kazim snapped back. “When we saw you . . . We had to try.”
Liam’s gaze softened slightly. “I know. But this isn’t the time.” He glanced at Desfan. “Will you let them go?”
Desfan didn’t have to debate; he wanted that blade away from Karim, Liam in prison, and this moment ended so he could pursue Sahvi. Agreeing would get him all of that. “Yes.”
Liam faced Akiva and Kazim, but his focus seemed to be on the younger man. “You will go. You will not attempt to free me again. Do you understand?”
Moisture shined in Akiva’s eyes. “Liam—”
“Promise me,” he growled.
Akiva’s gaze sharpened. He said nothing, but Liam must have read something reassuring in his expression, because he looked at Kazim now. “Release Karim, and do not linger. Go. Now.”
Kazim’s eyes narrowed, but he did as Liam said and stepped back from Karim.
Desfan nodded to Karim, and his friend released Akiva.
Karim stepped around the boy and grasped Liam’s arm, though the Rydenic prince had made no move to run. He stared at Akiva and Kazim. “Go,” he repeated. “Now.”
Kazim snagged Akiva’s elbow and pulled him away, moving in the opposite direction of the open double doors. A back entrance—possibly the one they’d used to enter the warehouse in the first place.
Akiva didn’t drag his feet, but his eyes didn’t leave Liam. Not until both men disappeared from sight.
Karim kept a firm hold on Liam. “You betrayed us,” he said.
